Eighteen: When Bitches Discover (part 1)
Subject: Day one!
08.00 am
Hello Madam Secretary! I'm leaving for Phoenix! Finally! I should be there at 11am local time! Can't wait to get behind the wheel! I would like to be in Sedona in the evening!
1:30 pm Fountain Hills, AZ
Okay, friend, I just picked up the car a little over an hour ago and I already made a change of plans! As we were descending towards Sky Harbor International, I spotted something that caught my eye. I discovered that it was a man-made pond in a small town northeast of Apache Junction, called Fountain Hills.
That's where I headed. I'm sitting on the lawn in front of the pond, right in the middle is this artificial fountain, which shoots a jet of water hundreds of feet high every hour! I was lucky it was running during the landing, otherwise I would have missed it. I'm eating a sandwich in the shade of a willow tree, (very strange to find a willow tree in Arizona! I expected only Saguaro cactus!), waiting for the fountain to give its best at the next chime. Then I'll take a scenic detour, instead of going through I17, I'll go through Tortilla Flat, Sycamore Canyon, Montezuma Castle, Camp Verde, and Cottonwood.
8pm Jerome, AZ
I love a good change of plans! Upon arriving in Cottonwood, I spotted a curious sign on the road literally surrounded by cotton fields as I drove north bound for Sedona. 'Jerome, Yavapay County, ghost town, rooms available Hounted Hotel & Burger'... Could I have missed it, you think?
10 p.m.
The Hounted Hotel and Burger is small, cute, and entirely made of wood! The owners served me some great sliders and told me that in 1920 something like fifteen thousand people lived here, working in the copper mine. Now it's really a ghost town, there are no more than a hundred souls living here! Tomorrow I will visit it better!
Hey, I know you're tired, caught up and stressed, this is just the first of a long series, don't waste too much time answering, this is my way of taking you with me! Good night!"
Elaine Barrish pulls off her glasses, pleasantly amazed at what she just read, closes the magnetic case of her iPad and slips under the soft covers. She decides that as Susan will say goodnight to her, she will say good morning. Having little to tell in comparison, a simple and immediate text message will be enough. And with that thought, she closes her eyes and falls asleep shortly thereafter.
—
«Good morning, very nice surprise, Sue, to read about your day. Do it again, as often as you can! But don't you dare answer me when you're driving! And don't drive if you're tired! Hope you're taking lots of pictures! Hugs! Have a great day!»
Berg puts her phone away contentedly, thanks the lovely hotel couple, and goes out to explore.
—
Subject: day two!
2:30 p.m., Sedona, AZ
I'm sitting outside a diner at the Tlaquepaque Artisan Market. It is full of colors and sculptures, in the center of the small square the statue of an Apache in a plastic pose, he seems to be fighting with the eagle with its wings spread above him, it reminds me of the famous scene in The Matrix, when the main character dodges bullets. Around here they sell the most absurd foods, rattlesnake, lollipops complete with scorpions, chocolate glazed worms, habanero candy. Want a souvenir? My chili is simply delicious! With no weird ingredients, I hope! This morning I took a tour inside Jerome, it is truly a lovely place! The people are welcoming and the gift stores are a trap! As in, they're full of awesome stuff and you'd take it all with you!
It's a little Monument Valley here, there are these red sandstone rocks that surround the town. They built a church by carving out one of these rocks, because one of the formations in front looks like a Virgin Mary with a Jesus in her arms? To me it looks like any mother holding a baby, but those are details! I was advised to do the scenic drive through the Coconino National Forest to get up to Flagstaff, I'll be getting back behind the wheel in a bit.
9:30 p.m. Flagstaff, AZ
Okay. I can now officially say what a skunk smells like! I have to thank the waitress who recommended the overview! I don't want to think about what it must be like a few feet from the beast in question, I smelled it with the windows closed and while driving! I almost feared it would soak my clothes so strong it was! Of course I'm taking pictures! Am I a reporter or not? Early to bed tonight, I have big plans for tomorrow! Hope your day wasn't too stressful! Night!
—
«Well... I'll tell you... I would think about it, about the rattlesnake! I'd be curious, wouldn't you? Okay, okay! That doesn't sound like breakfast time talk! Can't wait to read what you're up to today! Be careful on the road, okay? Have a great day! Ps, Garcetti walks almost without crutches now, goodbye Roosevelt effect!»
—
Subject: day three!
3pm Grand Canyon NP, AZ
Despite the hundreds of people swarming around me, sitting, taking pictures, eating, talking, there is a reverential silence here that I have only experienced visiting the WTC Memorial. If I close my eyes, I seem to hear your mother calling you, looking for you everywhere! Do you have any idea where I am? The view from here is truly breathtaking! It must be stunning at sunset, or sunrise, but I can't stay that long, I'm headed further north! First though... I need to find the route down to the river! Any suggestions? Just kidding! Kisses!
10pm Page, AZ
Just a quick message to end the day, I want to be up before sunrise in the morning to enjoy the show! Get some rest! And sleep well!
—
«Good morning, you big wanderer! Have you been to Hopi Point! I bet my mom neglected to tell you that she was arguing with a souvenir vendor about the price of a Havasupai artifact and that I was bored out of my mind! And I had found that trail, by the way! If that ranger hadn't picked me up in the nick of time! Who knows where your day will take you! I'll find out tonight. We're about to fly to Louisiana. Have a good time for me, too!»
Susan is already on site, the sun is rising. She doesn't want to wait until later. She decides to answer straight away.
«You should be here, seeing this show in person, Elaine, we're so close now! Have a great flight!»
A few seconds pass and the phone starts ringing. She bites her bottom lip smiling as she answers without being able or having time to utter a syllable.
"I'm there... come on, describe this show to me...", the voice on the other end of the ether invites her. "Okay...", the young woman accepts with a slight embarrassment, while strangely her heart increases its beats.
"Close your eyes for me Elaine", she whispers. Elaine obeys, smiling, in her private corner that is the space where she usually sits when she is aboard Air Force One. She sinks her back and head into the seat and imagines she is with her friend.
"We took Highway 89 south, a few miles out Page we left the car at the side of the road and walked west for almost a mile, the red soil under our feet rising every time we took a step. We have the sun at our backs. We reach the edge. Below us the Colorado is emerald green this morning, flowing placidly, no sound of it, we are too far away. The river forms two thirds of a circle, on the other side there is a kind of rock tower, only a strip of land joins it to the opposite edge...", she tells her with an emotional voice.
Elaine smiles puffing air from her nostrils, her breathing has become heavy, "The Horseshoe Bend", she says. Berg doesn't feel the need to confirm.
"There is no one around here yet, we are sitting on a rock, the sun is getting higher every second and the color show is changing all the time. I think this is the most beautiful place on Earth, Elaine", she tells her, moved by the spectacle of nature. The two remain in silence, listening to each other only breathing, each immersed in her own fantasy of being with the other one. After a deeper sigh than the previous ones, it is the Secretary who breaks the spell. "Thank you, sweetheart", she tells her, hoping that her warmth will reach her, "Thank you, for being by my side... there is no other person I would want in your place"
A few more seconds and she hears the classic 'click' of the interrupted call. With her gaze lost in the canyon, her hands trembling with deep emotion, she puts her cell phone back in the pocket of her jeans. She doesn't know how long she sits there, overwhelmed by the intensity of the dialogue. She wonders what would have happened, if actually in that place, at that moment, Elaine Barrish had been with her.